OTTAWA – On Monday, the federal government announced funding for four organizations to expand broadband connectivity in rural regions.
The funding is as follows:
$1,019,925 is allocated to Bell Canada to provide high-speed Internet via fibre in Saint-Pie-de-Guire, northwest of Drummondville; Lac-à-la Truite, southeast of Thetford Mines; and Saint-Séverin and Saint-Frédéric, northeast of Thetford Mines; and
$927,938 is going to Groupe Maskatelnto bring fibre to Saint-Lucien, east of Drummondville, and Lac Bolduc, southeast of Thetford Mines. Thetford Mines is about 100 kms south of Quebec City.
$1,015,368 will go to Bell division Télébec to bring fibre to Belcourt, which is northeast of Val-d’Or;…
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By Greg O’Brien
VANCOUVER – As expected, Telus executives said their company is very well positioned to weather whatever storm the newly launched Shaw Mobile releases into the Albert and British Columbia telecom marketplace.
Pointing to its long-term track record, relationships with its customers and solid distribution channels (Telus has 300-plus retail stores in the two provinces compared to 19 for Shaw, although the latter does have additional retail partners like Wal-Mart), company executives on its second quarter results conference call with financial analysts on Friday sounded pretty confident they have prepared well for this new competitive brand.
“We’ve been…
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Adds 141,000 new customers
VANCOUVER – Telus today reported consolidated operating revenue of $3.7 billion in the second quarter of 2020, a 3.6% increase over the same period a year ago.
However, earnings before interest, income taxes, depreciation and amortization decreased by 1% to $1.4 billion while adjusted EBITDA was down 2.9%. This decline reflects the financial impacts arising from the Covid-19 pandemic, said the company’s press release, mainly thanks to lower wireless roaming revenue (partly offset by growth in wireline data service margins), expanded services and subscriber growth, an increased EBITDA contribution from our organic Telus International (TI) business, and…
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By Greg O’Brien
WHEN TELUS RELEASES its second quarter results July 31st, company executives will surely have to answer a fair number of questions about their primary western Canadian competitor’s new brand, Shaw Mobile, when they host their quarterly conference call with financial analysts at noon ET.
Those analysts all published their takes on the launch of Shaw Mobile and agree the dramatic discounts offered by Shaw will surely draw customers away from Telus, Rogers and Bell – while shoring up Shaw’s wireline customer base at the same time. As we reported, Shaw has gone to market in Alberta and…
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VICTORIA – As part of its PureFibre rollout, Telus said today it is investing $90 million to connect more than 90% of homes and businesses in the District of Saanich (pop 113,000), which is just outside of Victoria, B.C.
Construction is already underway, and the company anticipates the majority of homes and businesses will be connected by the end of 2022.
“Telus is proud to make this generational investment in Saanich, providing the technology to bridge geographic and socio-economic divides right now, and well into the future, connecting citizens to the people, resources and information that matter the most to them,”…
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VANCOUVER – Telus announced today some of its Optik TV customers in B.C. and Alberta can choose Amazon Prime as a benefit with their service.
Optik TV customers who already have four or more programming theme packs can now also choose Amazon Prime membership (which comes with Prime Video) as a benefit in their Optik TV package, courtesy of Telus. It’s almost like Amazon Prime is a new, free specialty TV tier, but with free delivery of stuff bought through Amazon.
With their free Prime membership (which is normally $7.99 per month), customers can shop with free, fast shipping and gain…
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Prediction: Shaw Internet customers will really like this
By Greg O’Brien
CALGARY — In a move the company says is meant to reward its wired broadband customers while building its wireless subscriber count out west, Shaw Communications is launching today its new Shaw Mobile branded service.
Exclusive to British Columbia and Alberta, Shaw Mobile is meant to leverage the company’s LTE network, its Fibre+ network and 450,000 Wi-Fi hotspots to offer Shaw Internet customers a way to add wireless that promises to dramatically reduce their monthly wireless data bill.
Beginning today, Shaw Fibre+ Internet subscribers can add up to six wireless lines of…
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OTTAWA — As part of the federal government’s stated commitment to help reduce the cost of some wireless plans by 25% over the next two years, Minister of Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada Navdeep Bains today released data showing how prices have not yet declined for the data plans the department has chosen to study.
Over the next two years, the federal government expects the three major wireless providers and their flanker brands, which together represent 90% of the national market, to offer data plans in the 2 GB to 6 GB range that are 25% cheaper than they…
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Rogers in favour of transport subsidies for rural fund
By Ahmad Hathout
OTTAWA – Rogers and Bell are among those in favour of a “flexible” approach for the use of the Federal government’s yet-to-be-announced $1 billion Universal Broadband Fund (UBF) to support rural backbone, transport and last-mile projects, according to Rogers and a briefing note prepared for the rural economic development minister.
In a stakeholder page on its website, ISED asks those providing feedback on the program’s design to answer questions including: “In situations where government is only funding backbone investments, how could last-mile investments be facilitated?” And, “Are there particular…
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GATINEAU — Telus today received approval from the CRTC for a broadcasting licence to operate a national on-demand TV channel, which according to Telus’s application proposes to air a variety of general interest content.
Update: The wording of this new licence confused us and others a little bit, but we’ve been informed by Telus this is simply a licence to operate its own pay-per-view service.
Some of the English-language programming indicated in the application includes live and tape-delayed professional and amateur sports, and live and tape-delayed special events including programs of comedy sketches, improvisations, unscripted works, stand-up comedy, music and dance,…
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